Category Archives: Productivity

Tips For Marketing Your Products And Services

Small-Business-Owners
When it comes to business marketing you want to sometimes put your focus on something more singular, and not just on your company as a whole. Most of the marketing you do is likely to get your business name out, but when you have a new product or service that is launched or you want extra attention for, you will do some marketing that revolves strictly around that item.

Sometimes that focus is just what you need to increase product or service sales, or to get someone’s attention. Your business name is still getting out there, but you are also showing current and potential customers that you have something special that you want them to know about, and that it means enough to you to focus on, if only it for an ad or two.

Make A Specific Website For It

You can bet that the lawyers at Morelli Law Firm take on more than just talcum powder lawsuits, but in order to specify to victims that they are there to help for this specific need they have a website set up that is dedicated solely to this one need. You can do that as well, if you have a product or service that you want to bring direct attention to and not have lost in the shuffle of all of the others things your business offers.

Work With Social Media

You can start a page on Facebook for nearly anything. You can make videos and post them to YouTube. You can Instagram photos, Tweet about your day, and even create a board specifically for that one product or service on Pinterest. Do it!

People love social media, they love to review businesses on social media, and if you are advertising specific products and services in creative ways on social media they are going to get noticed. Cross promote from one social media outlet to others, as well. Make memes, create infographics, and do things that are shareable for the most views.

Create An Email And Texting Campaign

Email seems to go by the wayside more these days since social media seems to offer a more direct form of contact between business and customers, but it is still worth using when you can. Offer newsletters or email sign up for coupons. If you want to stick with the times, you can also do this with text blasts.

If people sign up through your website then you’ll know they want to receive these types of messages, but you still don’t want to overdo it. One email or text a week, or even one a month with a coupon, is plenty to peak their interest. Make those blasts about the products and services you want them to notice the most.

Originally posted on September 27, 2016 @ 2:15 am

Starting Your Own Business? 3 Musts Before Becoming Your Own Boss

Quitting your 9 to 5 job and venturing out to be your own boss can be exciting. Who doesn’t love the idea of only answering to yourself and pursuing your dreams? The truth is though that many new businesses fail simply because of lack of planning, lack of organization, and lack of basic business knowledge. You obviously want your new business to be a success, so here are 3 things that you need to take into consideration before becoming your own boss. Continue reading

Originally posted on February 16, 2017 @ 2:49 am

5 Time-Saving Tips to Boost Workplace Productivity

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Time management problems in your business? With today’s technology, procrastination is always within the reach of anyone, even during hours of productivity. According to statistics, about 89% of employees “waste time” during office hours. 57% of this number spends over 1 hour per day, while the rest loses about 30 minutes.

For managers, these figures call for immediate action. Frankly, you cannot eliminate media consumption – the number one driver of wasted time – as it is embedded in the lifestyle of Millennials. What you can do, however, is to implement strategies that will rally your people and restore the maximum productivity of your team.

Here are some of the best solutions you can do for a more productive workplace.

1. Conduct Online Meetings

An excellent way to improve the time-efficiency of your team is to offer faster options for everyday workplace activities. For example, you can choose to conduct online meetings as opposed to relying solely on face-to-face interactions. Online meetings give your team the ability to participate in meaningful conversations without leaving their workstation. With a platform like ClickMeeting, you can further communication and collaboration without disrupting the workflow of your employees.

ClickMeeting

ClickMeeting is a platform that can help you host online conferences thru video or voice calls. It can also be used to produce webinars that streamline training and knowledge transfer processes, which will contribute to unlock the maximum efficiency of your team. Of course, it can also be used to eliminate location barriers for remote teams.

2. Encourage Smart Use of Social Media

Social media is one of the main reasons employees are wasting time at work. It is, however, a powerful networking tool that can be beneficial to grow businesses. You only need to encourage your tea to use social media the right way.

Keep in mind that your employees are the face of the business. They are your brand ambassadors, and they can extend the reach of your brand through social networking. Just remember to specify the rules that promote the responsible use of social media.

Of course, brief social media breaks allow employees to de-stress and recharge. Breaks will help your team maintain peak performance in prolonged periods. A good rule is to enable them to take 15-minute social media breaks after 90 minutes of intense work.

3. Eliminate Email Use

Many businesses that allow remote workers still utilize emails as the primary medium of communication. Although emails are still useful for sending in-depth messages as well as attachments, emails may not be the fastest option, especially without an app that aggregates your mail like Mozilla Thunderbird.

Trello

Email inboxes are also quickly cluttered with personal messages, newsletters, spam, and other non-work-related items. In other words, their only not ideal if you want to maximize the productivity of an employee. That said, you are better off with an online project management platform like Trello, which can be used to assign teams and deadlines for each task.

4. Minimize Use of Mobile Devices

Even if your employees learn to use social media smartly, they may still be interrupted by random phone calls and text messages. These distractions may come at any time and employees usually underestimate the impact of texting on productivity. This is why you need to enforce policies that can limit their access to mobile phones.

However, a mobile device policy may depend on several variables such as the size of your company, the type of industry you are in, and the weight of the workload. For example, it is imperative to prohibit mobile phones for employees who drive or interact with customers in person. However, for offices, mobile phones may be allowed as long as they do not impede the team’s timeline. Just remember that a mobile phone ban for a particular employee is in order if it led to a delay or missed deadline.

5. Minimize Unnecessary Office Chatter

Last but not least, one of the most common office distractions is none other than a chatty workmate. It is, perhaps, the most annoying and disruptive time waster since it can affect the productivity of other employees.

ChatterBlocker

Dealing with office chatter, however, involves several strategies that may not be easy to implement. Some short-term solutions include posting a sign that discourages chatter and closely monitoring employees during office hours. For the long-term, you can transform the office into a cubicle setup to discourage constant chatting and promote better focus. You can also use a noise masking software like ChatterBlocker to blur out a noisy co-worker.

Conclusion

Remember that a business’ success ultimately relies on the people running it. With everybody’s cooperation, no challenge is too big to overcome. It is only a matter of implementing the right office rules that bring out the best in everyone.

Originally posted on July 8, 2016 @ 9:49 pm

Japanese Venture Capitalist Firm Pivoting to South East Asian Startups

Innovation Weekend Winner

Japanese venture capitalist firm, Sunbridge Global Ventures, is aggressively moving into the South East Asian startup scene, which has exponential growth over the last couple of years.

Like many savvy incubator investors, Sunbridge Global has recognized the scene is to hot to miss out on. What is more, and unlike Japan in many sectors- it remains relatively unsaturated, as this excellent “opportunity map” from TechinAsia shows:

SE Asian opportunity map

Sunbridge Global is partnered by some of the biggest corporations in Japan, such as NTT, Kao, VEC and in the US with the likes of Amazon. Last week at the Innovation Weekend at Singapore, hosted by Sunbridge Global Ventures. The winner, StudyPact, and the runner-up Haystakt– both taking the new crowdfunding fad to new and unique levels. Both projects qualified for attendance, and a chance to pitch, at a Tokyo-based pitch contest in December of this year. Joining them will be the winners and runners-up from pitch contests in Boston, London and Osaka this year.

Sunbridge Global, along with many other established and up and coming venture capital firms in Japan- are evolving from being traditional VC types, to “incubators” who provide platforms and guidance to startup ventures. With their Jannovation Week in Silicon Valley, they are investing in companies all over the world, such as the US platform AnyRoad. It is surely a sign of the times that the new way of approaching investment in South East Asia, with many collaborations between Japanese and Chinese VCs and technology firms (such as LanguageCloud, which Sunbridge Global also invested in)- will not be overly influenced by the older generations still harboring grudges over events which happened over 75 years ago, such as the nanking massacre. The younger generations are not only tech savvy and forward looking, along with awareness that previous generations didn’t have (e.g: the environment, health, etc)- but they also recognize that socially aware entrepreneurship and staying connected to their fellow men and women around world, without censorship, is the best chance the world has for peace and prosperity for all.

    Originally posted on May 14, 2014 @ 2:39 am

    3 Vital Apps that Help Increase Productivity

    Apps whether for computers or mobile devices are created for a purpose and undoubtedly, they have made life much more convenient for numerous consumers. It’s no surprise then that millions of people worldwide today like to use them and continue to download them.

    It is being predicted that by 2016, the number of app downloads will reach 45 billion a year. Interestingly, more than 1 billion iPhone apps are downloaded from iTunes every month.

    In the area of work productivity, there are specific apps worth using. They can help in completing your work on time, organizing schedules and managing various tasks. Continue reading

    Originally posted on April 28, 2013 @ 1:41 am